Flander's Company

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
Let's see : a psychopath, a Mad Scientist, a Dark Action Girl...and a therapist

Nous servons le mal, et nous le servons bien. ("We serve evil, and we serve it well.")

Flander's Company is a French amateur series, airing on the Nolife broadcast and edited for DVD in 2009 by Kaze (recently acquired by Viz Media).

The title company aims at providing heroes worthy foes, and as such recruits, trains and supports Supervillains. The series follows its employees in their daily routine.

The main characters are:

  • Hippolyte Kurtzmann, the human resources manager, who spends most of his time receiving wannabe supervillains in his office. Sadistic and short-tempered. Was known as "Sadoman" when he was an active Villain.
  • Caleb, the resident Brilliant but Lazy Gadgeteer Genius who's supposed to run the research department, but spends most of his office hours next to the coffee machine. Was known as "Dr.Chaos" whan he was an active Villain.
  • Mr Trueman, the Affably Evil CEO, who inherited the company from his father. Hates slackers, and thus Caleb.
  • Cindy, Mr Trueman's niece, a 16-year-old barbarian with an axe. Known as "Freya" when she is an active Villain.
  • Dr Parker, a friendly psychiatrist who runs the psychological assistance department, helping Supervillains with their issues. Well, when he isn't in Damien mode. Then, he's a psychopatic killer with insane powers that just wants to make Your Head Asplode
  • Carla Burnelle, co-CEO of C.C Corporation, who masters electric powers.

The first season is centered around Hippolyte and his job, and features a lot of Application of the Week episodes, but starting with the second, it becomes a lot less repetitive, with genuine story arcs, and other regulars are featured more prominently, even if Hyppolite is still the main character.

Budget is non-existent, so there is no set and almost everything is shot during weekends in the offices of French Animation magazine Animeland, hence the anime DVDs and posters in the background. The show's creator and co-writer, Ruddy Pomarede, also directs, acts (as Caleb), edits and does the visual effects. All this on his free time, which explains the slow production (twenty short episodes a year).

The overall style is very cartoonish, so the fact that everybody overacts does not ruin the show, but participates to the general mood.

Unlike Flanderization and Stupid Sexy Flanders, has nothing to do with Ned Flanders.

Tropes used in Flander's Company include:
  • Actor Allusion: Caleb, when given the choice between working for C.C. Corp and leaving his job : "What would I do? Teach physics to middle schoolers?" Which is, of course, the actor's job.
  • An Axe to Grind: Cindy's weapon of choice
  • Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Trueman is implied to be responsible for Magneto's return, the Morlocks Massacre and Temptation Island.
    • Three things are a big no-no in the FC universe: messing with the timeline, manufacturing Kryptonite and producing albums for North Canadian divas.
  • Ascended Extra: the series is known to use this trope a lot:
    • Carla Brunelle was initially introduced as one of Hippolyte's several candidates and a parody of French president's wife Carla Bruni. She was later ascended to the protagonists Arch Enemy and later again became a protagonist herself.
    • similarly, Kevin was first seen as this then ascended to a member of the CC. He is one of the only three survivors of the CC by now.
    • Igor initially appeared as Elisabeth Barthory as a cameo character. He later comes back and becomes Caleb's personal assistant. Even more in season 4, where he serves as the main scientist due to Caleb missing.
    • Though not specifically ascended as character, several actors appeared first as candidates to Hippolyte to later return playing major characters.
  • Attack of the Killer Whatever: in second half of season 4; more precisely, attack of the Killer Sadako-Expy Stringy-Haired zombie girls with psycho-ultrasonic powers and born from mutated singers.
  • Badass Normal: Trueman possesses no power of his own, but he makes up by his intelligence, charisma and crazyness. Too bad for him, it clearly doesn't satisfy him.
  • Berserk Button: Do. Not. Mess. With. Caleb's coffee. Do not. Really. Bad idea. Very bad idea. Cataclysmic idea.
    • Also count for Hippolyte:

Hippolyte: "Il m'a fallu des mois pour trouver un torrefacteur potable dans cet univers!" ("It took me months to find a decent roaster in this universe!")

  • Beware the Nice Ones: Don't mess with Parker when he's in Damien mode.
  • Big Bad: Carla in season 2.
  • Butt Monkey: Gilbert the accountant. Also Kevin in season 3.
  • Calling Your Attacks: Averted most of the time, with some notable exceptions in season 3 finale by Hippolyte, Caleb and Hitomi.
  • Card-Carrying Villain: The whole organization.
  • Caffeine Bullet Time: Caleb's powers - short-range time and space warping - awakened as a side effect of coffee abuse.
  • Celibate Villain: Cindy clearly has no interest in dating anybody; she rejected Truicidator's advances, and expressed disgust when her father suggested she might find somebody one day. Granted, considering the kind of relationship her parents have, her reluctance is understandable...
  • Chekhov's Gunman: Carla (the Big Bad of season 2) is introduced as a one-episode character in Season One. Kevin and especially Lose-man also qualify.
  • Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Nico, Carla's husband, appears with her in their first episode. She appears again without him and he's never mentioned again. According to Word of God, Nico wasn't her real husband but a secret agent, and came as a cover for that scouting mission.
  • Combat Sadomasochist: Hippolyte as Sadoman...
  • Combination Attack: Cindy and Gladys initiate one against Liam, creating a tornado in the process. It doesn't work, Later, Hippolyte and Caleb do one against Mello. It works perfectly.
    • Don't forget in season 2, when Cindy and Gladys used the tornado trick against Maxence and the henchmen with amazing effect.
  • Crossover: With Noob and "Visitor of the future", two series of the same network.
  • Daddy's Little Villain: Cindy.
  • Dangerously Genre Savvy: Hippolyte and Carla in the season 2 finale. See also Just Between You and Me below.
  • Death Glare : A pretty scary one from Silver to Hitomi during the season 3 finale.
    • It's almost Damien's signature move ! Seriously, he gives one to almost everyone he fight...
  • Deface of the Moon
  • Dropped a Bridge on Him : Maxence, shot by Trueman in the season 3 finale. They were on the same team... Kinda.
    • Well, you must remember that Maxence was a member of the CC Corp., and their cooperation was tied by their fear of Aegis. Once Caleb's potion was ready, they didn't have any reason not to kill him. Plus, he wanted the potion...
  • Easter Egg: Reals eggs! Lay down by the cast turned into rabbits! There's a Easter special...
  • Enemy Mine :On season 3, CC corporation has to work with Flanders Company to defeat Aegis. Truman even quotes: "The enemy of my enemy is my friend".{{[spoiler| he'll be the one that acts as an Ungrateful Bastard in the end, sending the CC corp. survivors to North Pole.}}
  • Epic Fail: Invoked by Hippolyte when he and Caleb blow up their cover during season 4.
  • Evil Laugh: Damien lets one out just after he explodes Silver's head. It wasn't pretty.
  • Fallen Hero: Seiya applies for a job in season one.
  • Femme Fatale: Andromalia combines this with Horny Devil, being a succubus.
  • Four-Temperament Ensemble: The Aegis heroes group:
    • Sanguine: Isis Pyro
    • Choleric: Liam Campbell
    • Melancholic: Mello
    • Phlegmatic: Dana Campbell aka Silverfox
  • Full Name Ultimatum: Georges gives one to his daughter, Cindy, during the 9th episode of the 3rd season : "CINDY PRISCILLA TRUEMAN GO AND GET ME MY RIFLE !"
  • Genre Savvy: all villains are perfectly aware that they shouldn't mess with the timeline, as Dr Doom points out :

Doom : Of course we must not use Time Travel! It always mess up everything...

  • Gory Discretion Shot: Cindy only uses her axe offscreen. Averted when Damien uses his powers against someone's head.
  • Intangible Man: Nadège
  • I Just Want to Be Special: Truman, the only "Muggle".
  • Just Between You and Me: Averted twice in the same episode. First, wannabe-villain Kevin starts monologuing ; Hyppolite hits him and yells "Rule number one of a long-living villain, no fucking monologue!" Later, Carla : "Now I could talk for a long time, in order to let you have time to find something to save your butts, but I'll go straight to the part where I explode you one after the other !"
  • Joke Character: Nearly every villain who wants to join the Flanders Company may qualify. And then we have Hitomi, who is the embodiment of this trope.
    • Kevin takes this trope and runs with it.
  • Knight of Cerebus: the CC Corporation, to a minor extent. When they show up, the serie started having an actual plot and go from pure comedy to action comedy.
    • Aegis, on the other hand, plays this trope pretty much straight.
  • Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: A lot of them, but only as minor characters. Usually their name is an untranslatable pun about a French slang variation of their name. There were cameos of :
  • Make Me Wanna Shout: One of Kevin's powers, which he used against Hippolyte. It backfired spectacularly.
  • Massive Multiplayer Crossover: Considering all the Lawyer-Friendly Cameo and some occasional references in dialogue, Flander's Company is set in an universe which mixes the Marvel, DC, Men in Black, Star Wars, and Mario franchises. There are some cross-over with Noob and Le Visiteur Du Futur (two other French webseries), too.
  • McLeaned: Dr Parker/Damien was killed in the beginning of season 4. Word of God was pretty clear : he won't come back, wishing the actor "Bon vent" (which is a polite way to say "Good riddance").
  • Me's a Crowd : Caleb's power of duplication went from "I can duplicate myself a little" to Naruto-esque proportions...
    • Which leads to one of the most ridiculous fights in the show, with Caleb fighting against Naruto Narugros
  • Mistaken for Gay: The villain Trucidator ("Slayator") shortly suffers this from Dr Parker. Trucidator came to Dr Parker because he was bullied because he is black, but before the explanation was finished, Parker first thought Trucidator was victim of homophobia. Note that Trucidator general appearance (hairy bared chest and iron chains) makes this mistake understandable.
  • Mooks: Cindy's role is to train them. They even have a training camp.
  • Musical Episode: Once More With Evil, the season 3 opener.
  • Must Have Caffeine: Caleb, who spends almost his entire office time next to the coffee machine and having it removed prompted his resignation, as hoped by C.C. company - what they hadn't planned was the going berserk part. And to a slightly lesser extent, Hippolyte.
    • Well, in Caleb's case, it may be because of his caffeine-induced teleport powers. Anyway, that does NOT explain his worship for George Clooney, who is more-or-less his GOD
      • In France, George Clooney plays in an series of ads for the Nespresso coffee machine, which is the model used by Caleb. Thus his cult for the actor.
  • Not Wearing Tights: Subverted with Aegis. They wear costumes, but no masks.
    • Nobody in the company has a costume to begin with. Then in season 2 (Cindy, Hyppolite, Damien, Caleb) and 3 (Hitomi, Carla, Truman) more and more characters decide to get (or to wear again) a super costume for fights. Handwaved by Carla at the end of season 3 :

Carla: "I will not fight in a Chanel suit!"
Cindy: "Didn't stop you when you fought us last year!"

  • Oh Crap: A literal one said in the Season 3 Finale by Mello who is exploded in mid-air by Hippolyte and Caleb's final attack "Combo Gothic Tits on Fire !"
    • Earlier in the same episode, Mello, stuck in the ground with only his head surfacing, has a Oh Crap moment when Pyro clearly says that she doesn't give a damn about him, as she's ready to unleash a miniature sun on the protagonists and Mello nearby.
  • Power Incontinence: Happens to everyone in a season 2 episode. Hilarity Ensues...
  • Punch Clock Villain: Pretty much all the recurring characters. Except they're not exactly nice guys to begin with.
  • Put on a Bus: Nadège, at the end of season 3, where she is caught by a black hole created by Mello. Word of God mentions that she's on a trip to Japan, hence her nonavailability as an actress for the next season, scheduled for late 2010. Still, chances of seeing her return seem pretty high.
  • Pyromaniac: Pyro...
  • Retired Badass: Before taking desk jobs, Hippolyte and Caleb were quite efficient supervillains.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Carla against Pyro during the season 3 finale.
    • She does it again against Trueman in season 4 after learning he lost his new powers and lack most of his forces. She is however quickly defeated by Über-Caleb
  • Shock and Awe: Carla Burnelle.
  • Shout-Out: Too many to list, but notably :
    • Sailor Moon, by Hitomi Kurtzmann: "In the name of the sow's constellation, I will punish you ! GRUIIIIIII !"
    • Saint Seiya, specifically Shun, once again by Hitomi with one of her attacks : "Nebula Knacki !"
      • Done earlier with Seiya choosing to became a Villain.
    • During season 4, Caleb and Hippolyte ends up in an alternate reality, in which Superman's spaceship has landed in North Korea instead of America. It's easy to see here a Shout-Out to Superman: Red Son, a DC Universe Elseworlds story in which Superman's spaceship landed in Soviet Union.
  • Super-Powered Evil Side: Parker has one.
  • Take Our Word for It: The Christmas episode during season 2. We hear a lot about the children, but actually never see them.
    • Season 3 shows us that most of the personnel are living dead, including Sadako from The Ring, so how do they have children?
      • This Troper has a theory about that: those employees may have been fully alive until said Christmas episode, when Cindy slaughtered everyone in the room. They were then brought back to life, more or less, because the workforce was needed.
  • There Are No Therapists: Heavily subverted, on top of the fact that Dr Parker is very good at his job.
  • The Scream: A big one by Silver when Hitomi "milked" her in the season 3 finale. The character, who until then was shown to be The Stoic, proceeds to literally obliterate her.
    • Followed, in the same episode, by Liam's when he discovers his girlfriend, Pyro, has burnt down to ashes.
  • This Is for Emphasis, Bitch!: Damien delivers one to Pyro just before she's annihilated by Carla : "Hasta la vista, bitch!"
  • Torches and Pitchforks: Vampire Countess Von Bathory, expect it was from a angry mob, after she stole babies to feed her vampire puppies.
  • Too Kinky to Torture: Sadoman, of course;
    • Alternate Carla turns out to be this when Hippolyte attempts it on her.
  • Villain Protagonist: The whole cast.
    • Parker and Georges, to an extent may be a subversion. He works for and with Villains, but he's a friendly and naive man. Most of the time...
  • Weird Trade Union: The company kinda works this way.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist : Aegis. They killed dozens of supervillains during 3 months, despite the fact that they were abiding by contracts and thus, not a danger to the general population.
  • What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: Most of the time, the candidates Hippolyte receives have the most useless and ridiculous superpowers the writers could imagine.
    • A little example may be needed: In an episode of the third season, Hippolyte must engage a man saying that he can cause a deluge by dancing wearing a duck rubber ring and a tutu on a techno/space opera remix of the Lake of Swans. Seriously. (Poor Hippolyte lost it...)
  • Your Head Asplode: Damien's signature move.
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